Rob,
I remember that Olmo, and was waiting to bid on it at the last moment, but had the dreaded computer glitch just as the auction was coming to a close. After getting back online, I noticed that the bike had been purchased by a guy who is always parting out older bikes. Needless to say, I was just about as heartbroken as you were when I saw those pantographed parts showing up for sale. My first decent bike was an Olmo, and I've been looking for the right one to replace it since it was stolen 25 years ago outside my apartment in Lexington, Ky.
Galen Poole
Jackson, MS
>I experienced a situation similar to Chuck's this past fall. I sold an
> Olmo with all the pantographed parts on Ebay. It sold for less than I
> expected--it was in very good condition. I shipped the bike Fedex ground
> on a Wednesday and to my utter dismay and horror, it was fully parted
> out on Ebay the following Sunday night! The guy must have been waiting
> for the Fedex truck with a wrench in his hand. And of course, to further
> torture myself, I tracked all the auctions of "my" bike parts. All in
> all, he sold the parted out Olmo for around 30 percent more than he paid
> for it.
>
> Now at the time I had sold this Olmo, I had also sold 2 other complete
> bikes and a bunch of parts and had done rather well. I sold a Paramount
> track bike (which sold for the higher end of what I expected) and a
> Raleigh Competition GS (which sold for almost double of what I
> expected.) So I kind of figured that was bike karma--you win some and
> you lose some.
>
> It seems that that marques that were (almost always) sold as complete
> bikes (like Raleigh or Schwinn) sell for more (with original parts) than
> bikes that were often sold as framesets (such as many of the Italian
> marques). I hate to say this, but I'll probably part out the next
> Italian bike that I decide to sell or sell the frame and keep the parts.
>
>
> Rob Anderson
> Brooklyn, NY